CHILDREN should be let off homework as a reward for turning up to school regularly, according to the government.

Teachers have been told to offer "incentives" to pupils to cut truancy.

These could include running a class quiz or giving pupils a day off homework, according to the suggestions on the Teachernet web site.

The advice emerged after research found 70,000 children were skipping school every day, despite ministers spending £1bn to improve classroom discipline and truancy rates.

Ministers have set a national target to cut truancy rates by 10 per cent, but the level of unauthorised absence has remained roughly the same for several years.

But Alan Smithers, professor of education at the University of Buckingham, said the incentives suggestion could be counter- productive.

Punishment

"If you say if you attend school you won't have to do your homework, I don't know quite what that signals," he said.

"Does it say homework is some kind of punishment? Homework is designed to help with young people's education."

New Philanthropy Capital (NPC), an organisation which advises charities on how to spend their money, said two-thirds of pupils admitted they turn up for registration, but skip particular lessons. This means official government figures "significantly underestimate" the true scale of the truancy problem, according to the research.

A spokesman for the Department for Education said: "Incentive schemes should only be used to promote good attendance and be balanced with tough sanctions for truants."

The homework-free day suggestion was thought to have been intended for younger children.